Friday, February 16, 2018

After saying that some of the station’s opinions were “offensive and out of line” last year (a statement that received criticism from WEEI hosts), the Boston Red Sox are once again expressing their displeasure with their flagship radio broadcaster. President and CEO Sam Kennedy said the team had a “growing level of concern” with WEEI, and also claimed the seemingly neverending parade of incidents that get people riled up was “exhausting,” per the Boston Herald.

WEEI has been doing this stuff for 20 years. The Sox can talk all they want but they’ve renewed their deals with ‘EEI in the wake of past incidents and they’re locked in until 2023 so this is just talk.

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Down here in the Southwest, as a Humanities teacher I've used the famous photo "The Soiling of Old Glory" many times over the years to illustrate that antiquated and reprehensible views on race, etc., are not limited to the American South. Down here, my mention that the photo is taken in Boston, and that it involves the issue of busing, always surprises. It needn't, obviously, but it's made for some eye-opening discussions down here in "the racist part of the country (trademark)."

@8: sad but true. The early 20th century resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan, for example, was widespread throughout the USA, with the largest memberships at its height being in Oregon and Indiana. In fact, it was often tough to get elected in the latter state at the time without Klan endorsement.

The early 20th century resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan, for example, was widespread throughout the USA, with the largest memberships at its height being in Oregon and Indiana. In fact, it was often tough to get elected in the latter state at the time without Klan endorsement.

And it was a movement that was rather strong in the cities to boot- in Detroit, for instance, the Klan possibly only failed to elect a mayor in 1924 when the City Election Commission threw out thousands of their votes on often dubious grounds.

As for Boston, there has long been a certain siege mentality present in the Irish community involving others- note that the Coughlinites had strength in the mid-1930s and anti-Semitic violence to go with it. The impression I get is that a lot of Boston's sports culture (with WEEI just being an exemplar of it) has that mentality seep in- it explains quite a bit about certain aspects of the Boston sports press compared to other major cities.

And it was a movement that was rather strong in the cities to boot- in Detroit, for instance, the Klan possibly only failed to elect a mayor in 1924 when the City Election Commission threw out thousands of their votes on often grounds.

As for Boston, there has long been a certain siege mentality present in the Irish community involving others- note that the Coughlinites had strength in the mid-1930s and anti-Semitic violence to go with it. The impression I get is that a lot of Boston's sports culture (with WEEI just being an exemplar of it) has that mentality seep in- it explains quite a bit about certain aspects of the Boston sports press compared to other major cities.

Of course, those early 20th-century Klansmen in those Midwestern locales would have had all those Boston Irishmen in their crosshairs, given the KKK of that day was as anti-Catholic as it was anti-black or anti-Semitic.

Of course, those early 20th-century Klansmen in those Midwestern locales would have had all those Boston Irishmen in their crosshairs, given the KKK of that day was as anti-Catholic as it was anti-black or anti-Semitic.

Indeed (and, in fact, the Detroit Klan was chiefly motivated by anti-Catholicism, as was the Klan in most other urban areas)- in Boston the Klan was essentially a non-starter, with State Auditor Alonzo Cook (who I haven't found any evidence of direct Klan ties for, but who had a similarly unpleasant reputation as a religious bigot) failing miserably when he ran for Mayor in 1925. The siege mentality in Boston comes from different origins (though ones that, in the political sphere, seem to have first become of significance in the 1900s and 1910s, which is later than the popular myth suggests).